The Visionary
by Gliblord
Summary: Sakura/Naruto drabble.


**THE VISIONARY**

Chapter 1

Sakura awoke, but it was not yet morning. She groaned and pulled the sleeping bag's cover to her ears, but Naruto's snoring could not be ignored. Even on the eve of the decisive conflict, which would decide the fate of the entire ninja world, he could sleep as soundly--and loudly--as ever. The young medic-nin wished she were so lucky. The prospect of total war frightened her more than she could let on.

Careful not to disturb Naruto, Sakura quietly slipped on her cloak and exited the tent into the chill starlight, only to discover another Naruto standing resolute in the distance, keeping vigil over the entire encampment.

"Sakura-chan," he breathed, not tearing his eyes away from the edge of the forest. "You couldn't sleep either."

"How did you know it was me?" she asked, having attempted to sneak up on him.

"Sage mode. The clone is gathering natural energy while he's sleeping."

"And when did you learn this little trick?" she asked, curious. Naruto had gone on many adventures since he defeated Pain in order to get strong enough to defend Konoha when the time came.

"Before Akatsuki ripped away Gaara's bijuu, Sunagakure ninja had been researching a way to enable their Kazekage get a decent night's rest. Eventually they invented a patch that could drown Shukaku's mind-eating impulse with hourly intakes of atmospheric chakra--like losing a radio signal in static. I think the same principle could apply to me and sage chakra."

"I can't believe it, Naruto," she sighed affectedly. "You've grown so much I hardly recognize you anymore."

"Really?"

"You used to rush in, gung ho, without a thought in your head. Now you've devoted whole weeks to planning the perfect strategy against Madara and Sasuke. I should say that's a marked improvement over the old Naruto."

"Heh. That's true." Naruto grinned a bit, but his concentration was still trained on his surroundings. "You haven't changed at all."

"Hey!" She meant to playfully punch him on the shoulder with enough of her strength to make him wince, but he was too firm, unmovable, and didn't budge. In fact, he showed no sign of having noticed the bump at all. Had Naruto become so much stronger that even her vastly enhanced body was no match for his?

"You've always been the same," Naruto continued. "Gorgeous, smart, and really, really strong. I'm so glad you chose to come after all."

"Well, Tsunade said I'd be more use here than in the med corps back home, so..." Sakura recited the rote response almost unconsciously, her inner thoughts dwelling on his latest flattering--and, she felt, undeserved--remark. Sakura saw her younger self as insincere, spiteful and ungrateful, and her current self as an incoherent jumble of feelings. She was aimless, a drifter whose past was marked by highs and lows but lacked any trajectory. She felt distanced from Sasuke by his aloof betrayal, and distanced from Naruto by his the intensity of his mission. The words issued from her lips before she was aware of it: "Is that really what you think of me, Naruto?"

"Of course," he answered without hesitation.

Sakura dropped gently to her knees; the wind peeled back her hood. "I'm scared, Naruto-kun. Scared of tomorrow."

"Don't worry. I'll be here for you."

His words seemed to erase her anxiety as by magic. The pit in her stomach vanished. She gazed up at his focused face with appreciative eyes and chuckled at herself. "How is it you manage to be so certain?"

"I'll protect my friends and all of Konoha till my dying day. That's what it means to become Hokage. But for the woman I love... I'd give my life for her in a heartbeat, Sakura-chan."

She froze. Everything froze. He said it as though she'd known already, with the air of a casual statement of fact. And maybe she was supposed to have inferred the depth of his affection--in all their time together, after all, she'd not seen him interested in any other girl besides herself. What she had foolishly chalked up to a passing infatuation was actually just another facet of his boundless passion, conveyed clumsily in the past but with earnest clarity here and now in the starlight, a moment which, despite all that reasoning, her hindbrain insisted couldn't be happening. It was simply too big, like trying to squeeze the moon into her skull. And so she sat silently for what seemed like ages but were only seconds, and gulped, and gaped, and made a hoarse noise.

Naruto, concerned, broke his solid stance and bent down to look her in the eyes. "Sakura-chan? Are you okay?"

Frog eyes!

"Oh, sorry about that," he said, and blinked out of Sage Mode for her. "Sometimes I forget."

She hadn't said it aloud. He'd just picked up on it.

Naruto read her expression and explained. "In Sage Mode I'm kind of empathic. It's like intuition. I just know, you know?"

She couldn't say she was too familiar with trusting her intuition.

"But I can't hear thoughts. I just feel urges, worries, emotions. Whizzing overhead, grazing my cheek, like razor leaves. Sometimes invading my own train of thought. And the closer I am to someone..." He leaned his forehead against hers and wrapped his arms around her.

The stronger it feels.

"Naruto..." As he drew closer and closer, half of her commanded her to ravish him and the other half screamed for her to flee. No wonder she wasn't an easy read.

"Do you love me, Sakura-chan?"

The truth. "I-I don't know."

"All right, then I won't force this. Think about it, and when the time comes you'll know as I know--whatever the answer may be." Naruto disappeaed in a puff of smoke, where to she had no idea.

The stars rolled into the horizon, and the sun's rays began peeking through. Sakura wondered all the while.


End file.
